Rose feels alone when being attacked online. Sometimes they want to abandon social media all together but feels this would let down other activists. They are struggling to balance their safety and mental health with their commitment to the causes they are passionate about. Fear of being identified in pictures makes them cautious to take part in campaigns, particularly as other activists they know have been arrested after being ‘outed’ by perpetrators of abuse.

Rose is looking for ways to handle their safety and mental health better, to learn more about local support options and above all, to hear from others and feel less alone.

The large volume of abuse has eroded Brenda’s confidence and makes her think twice before she posts. Although she has tried blocking abusive accounts, she finds perpetrators quickly create new accounts. She has tried muting accounts but fears she will miss threats of violence that she would escalate to the police. The abuse she receives also impacts Brenda’s willingness to encourage young women in Kenya to get into politics. 
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Brenda has reported online harassment both to platforms and the police, and in a few cases, this has led to platforms taking down abusive content. She wishes, she could just ignore the haters and still use her Twitter which is so vital for her socio-political engagement.

Joyce’s experience and worries about the abuse have made it difficult to sleep, which also impacts her ability to write.  Moreover, as a result of the doxxing and the rape threats associated to it, she had to move as she was afraid that someone would come to her home and turn the online threat into physical violence in the offline world.
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Joyce looks for ways to report incidents in English and Swahili to be heard immediately but has lost faith in the existing reporting options when thinking about previous incidents.